Linsly Grad Featured In Play

January 19, 2014

Casey Hayes-Deats, a 2006 graduate of Linsly School in Wheeling, is featured in a theatrical production of Martin Crimp's new translation of Ferdinand Bruckner's "Pains of Youth."

After a critically acclaimed engagement at the National Theatre in London, "Pains of Youth" is making its New York premiere. Set in Vienna in 1923, "Pains of Youth" is described as exploring "the frustrations of a restless generation. Promiscuous, pitiless and bored, six medical students experiment on life - and each other."

Hayes-Deats is co-founder of The Cake Shop Theater Company, producer of "Pains of Youth" in New York. While she is acting in this production, her partner at The Cake Shop is directing. Their company's mission, we're told, "is to produce plays that give voice to characters and creators coming of age while giving emerging theater-artists a place to showcase their talents at a professional level."

School official Mark Landini said Hayes-Deats is offering a special Linsly Night with discounted tickets to the performance on Thursday, Feb. 20.

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We offer hearty congratulations to the five Ohio County students who are among the nine winners in the statewide West Virginia 2014 Project on Racism Essay Contest.

Officials of the YWCA Wheeling said they received 900 entries from 29 counties across the state; the level of participation - 900 entries! - seems extraordinary.

The nine winners are invited to a luncheon, sponsored by the West Virginia Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission. in Charleston Monday, Jan. 20. The first-place winners will have the opportunity to read aloud their essays during the program, YWCA officials said.

For the competition in grades 1-4, Devyn Poole, a third-grade student from Ritchie Elementary School in Wheeling, is the second-place honoree.

All three of the state winners in grades 5-8 are from Ohio County. Their rankings are first place, Skylar Koontz, grade 5, Woodsdale Elementary School, Wheeling; second place, Mallory Griffith, grade 6, Bridge Street Middle School, Wheeling; and third place, Paushaly Sau, grade 8, Triadelphia Middle School in Wheeling.

For grades 9-12, earning third-place honors is Moujhuri Sau, a junior at Wheeling Park High School.

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Dennis Jones, president and executive director of the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center, said the center's new documentary, "Rediscovering Holliday's Cove," is expected to be aired once a week for the next month or so on West Liberty University's television station.

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Belated congratulations are extended to the city of Wheeling for another note of national recognition.

In one of the oddities of social media, a story has been making the rounds on the Facebook pages of area residents and the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau this past week that the Friendly City is among the 25 best cities in the nation "for raising an outdoor kid."

Wheeling ranked 25th on the list published by Backpacker Magazine. However, it should be noted that, according to the online links, the listings were published in the magazine's August 2009 issue.

Presumably, Wheeling still ranks as 25th best or, perhaps, the city's rating has climbed higher over the past four and a half years.

In issuing its findings, Backpacker Magazine noted that Oglebay Institute runs a three-week Junior Nature Camp in the mountains, near Terra Alta. According to the publication, a club leads camping and rafting trips. Wheeling's ranking also cited "world-class paddling on Little and Lower Youghiogheny rivers; great hiking on nearby 70-mile Laurel Highlands Trail; Wayne and Monongahela National Forests offer endless backpacking hours away."

Oddly, the opportunities for outdoor activities cited in Wheeling's favor are located a considerable distance away and most are situated in other states. I'm sure that outdoor enthusiasts could identify several truly local sites for "outdoor kids" to explore.